JANUARY 29, 2026 — The hunt for former lawmaker Zaldy Co has taken a dramatic turn, with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla confirming that the Philippine government will now coordinate with Swedish authorities to pursue his arrest. Co, accused of involvement in anomalous flood control projects worth a staggering ₱289 million in Oriental Mindoro, has been spotted in Stockholm, Sweden — far from the Lisbon, Portugal lead officials previously believed.

“Yes we will be. In fact, I'm leaving tonight. I'm going to be making some coordination calls. Maybe you'll hear from me in the next two weeks kung anong mangyayari (Maybe you'll hear from me in the next two weeks about what will happen),” Remulla told reporters. 

The plan? To “red flag” Co’s Portuguese passport through Interpol. 

“He's using a foreign passport. So nakakaikot siya nang malaya doon. But now we're gonna go harder na ire-red flag namin yung foreign passport niya,” Remulla explained. 

(He’s using a foreign passport, so he’s moving freely there. But now we’re going harder by red-flagging his foreign passport.)

How does someone accused of corruption manage to slip through the cracks so easily? Money talks, that’s for sure. Co’s Philippine passport was already cancelled back in December 2025, yet here he is, signing petitions in Sweden, his movements authenticated by an apostille.

The charges against Co — corruption and malversation of public funds — are not small potatoes. We’re talking about flood control projects, the kind of infrastructure that directly affects communities vulnerable to typhoons and rising waters. If the allegations are true (and it seems that they are), then public money meant to protect lives and homes was siphoned off. Shouldn’t that outrage us all?

And yet, Co denies the accusations. His camp insists he’s being unfairly targeted. But if justice is truly blind, then why does it feel like the powerful always find ways to dodge accountability, while ordinary Filipinos face the full weight of the law for far less?

Will this be the moment Filipinos finally witness a ‘big fish’ caught, or will this just be another teleserye ending with “to be continued”?

(Image: Presidential Communications Office)